A Chemistry Project
by imnumberwha
Summary: AU with Nerd!Puck. A chemistry project with the deadline for next week was assigned to Noah and Rachel.What will happen in that one week they spend together? Will feelings become present?


**Title**: A Chemistry Project  
><strong>Ship<strong>: Puckleberry

**A/N: **This is my third fanfic. This features nerd!Puck.

R&R. Enjoy!

_Monday_

"Rachel Berry,"

Rachel looked up to look at her teacher. "Yes?"

"Your partner is Noah Puckerman." The teacher said then called another student.

She just nodded and looked at Noah. He's wearing a t-shirt with an opened plaid shirt and a pair of jeans. He was sporting his ridiculous Mohawk (which she secretly thinks is sexy) and the pair of glasses he always wears. She looked away from him and stared straight ahead at the blackboard.

She's not worried about him being her partner in this project. Actually, she's relieved because Noah is the school nerd and he'll be a big help in this project. They're not really friends because of their specialties; his is academics and hers is theater and singing. They also barely acknowledge each other at school for unknown reasons so she really can't explain why she is attracted to him.

She felt a pair of eyes on her and it's weird that she already knew whose eyes were those. She suddenly felt a blush creeping through her cheeks. She ducked her head and let her hair cover her face, hoping Noah wouldn't see her blushing.

"The deadline is next week so you have exactly seven days to do your best in this project." Rachel heard the teacher said so she finally looked up and caught Noah's eyes. He quickly looked away and busied himself with his notes. It was a cute gesture that made Rachel smile.

The bell rang so the teacher dismissed them. She quickly went to her locker, hoping Noah would be the one to approach her about their project. She didn't see Noah so she decided to wait for him until lunch.

Lunch came with Noah still not approaching her so she looked for him at the cafeteria. She didn't see him. She went to the library after eating to try finding him there. She entered the library to see him sitting at one of the chairs and reading a book. She took the seat across from him and said, "Hey."

Noah looked up from his book. "What?" he asked gruffly.

She looked at him and noticed that he's wearing different clothes from this morning; which means he got slushied. He's now wearing a collared shirt with the same pair of jeans. "I just want to talk to you about our chemistry project. I was looking for you at the cafeteria but I didn't found you there so I looked here." She explained.

His expression softened. "Oh. Yeah, the chemistry project. When will I start doing it?" He decided to humor her.

"I?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah. Whenever there are projects, my partners always bail on me so I'm the one who really does those things." He explained like he was talking to a child.

"I am not like that!" she exclaimed. The librarian shushed her. "I would like to let you know that I have that same situation happening to me whenever projects like that were assigned." She whisper yelled at him.

Noah chuckled. "I know. I'm just kidding." He said. "You're Rachel "I Will Get Out of This Hell-Hole so I'll Do Everything I Need To Do" Berry."

Rachel giggled. "I didn't know you had it in you, Noah Puckerman." She felt comfortable talking to Noah even if this is the first actual conversation they had in school. They see each other in temple and talked a couple of times since she moved to Lima, but that's just it.

"So when do we start?"

At around 6pm, Rachel heard the doorbell rang. She said to Noah at the library that she'll meet him at her house at 6pm. She checked herself at her vanity mirror then nodded. She went downstairs and opened the door to find Noah standing at the doorway with his bag pack slung to his shoulder.

"Hey." He greeted.

"Hi. Come in." she opened the door wider to let him in. She noticed him looking around. "Make yourself at home." She said the cliché line. She went to the kitchen to get him a soda. When she got back, he was sitting at the sofa. She handed him the soda. "Let's get started."

_Tuesday_

The next day passed and soon it was 6pm again. They both agreed to meet at Rachel's house every afternoon to do the project.

"Hey. I brought pizza. It's meat and pepperoni. Figured you might like at least like one of them." Noah said as he entered her house.

"Noah, that was very sweet of you but I couldn't eat both of them. I'm a vegetarian." Rachel explained.

"Oh." He said kind of disappointed. He was hoping to eat the pizza with Rachel. "But you should try at least one, you know. I bought this at the best pizza place in this town." He tried.

"But there's only one pizza place in Lima, right?" she asked, confused. He thinks it's cute whenever her brows furrow to confusion.

"Exactly." He said with a smile.

Rachel giggled. At the end of the night, Noah got Rachel to eat two meat pizzas and one pepperoni.

_Wednesday_

After last night, Rachel realized that she has a crush on Noah. The more time she got to spend time with him, the more time she got to know him better. She had started to know the real Noah.

At noon, they had lunch together. They had their own table but it's at the very corner of the cafeteria. They noticed Quinn Fabray walking towards them.

"Well, well, well. Looks like man-hands and Puck finally got together. They really fit each other; the school freak and the school nerd." Quinn said in a loud tone, causing most of the students in the cafeteria to laugh. Quinn smiled triumphantly at Noah and Rachel before walking away.

Noah glared at Quinn while Rachel ducked her head. "Ignore them, Rach. We both know you're better than her and the whole school." Noah whispered in her ear.

Rachel just nodded; still flabbergasted by the new fact she learnt that Noah believes in her. She really has a crush on him.

6pm came and it was time again for project-making. Like yesterday, when Noah entered her house, he was carrying a box of pizza.

"You know that you can't make me eat a meat or pepperoni pizza again, right?" Rachel asked as she eyed the box suspiciously.

"Of course, I know. Even if you really thought they were both delicious." He said sarcastically. "That's why I bought half-meat and half-vegetable."

Rachel looked like a kid who got a new toy when he said "half-vegetable". She grabbed the pizza box from him and opened it at the dining table. Then, she ate the vegetable part like her manners were gone.

"Wow. I never thought veggie pizzas are your weakness." Noah said, watching her.

Rachel grinned at him then continued eating the pizza.

Noah just stared at her while thinking about his feelings for her.

_Thursday_

Rachel walked happily through the halls of McKinley, lost at her own thoughts. Last night was awesome. The project was almost finished and she and Noah felt more comfortable with each other than before. Then suddenly, she felt a cold, icy, liquid dripping through her face and her hair. She just got slushied. She wiped the corn syrup from her eyes, held her head high, and then made her way to her locker. She was halfway through her locker when she felt someone dragging her. She looked up to see that it's Noah and he was dragging her to the bathroom. She followed him, shocked that he helped her because even if she and Noah are friends, she didn't expect him to help her in this situation. Thinking about Noah helping her made her feelings for him grow.

They entered the girls' bathroom to see that there were a couple of girls inside. Noah made them get out then locked the door. He got the folding chair under the sink then positioned it in front of the sink. When he noticed that she was not moving, he sighed, grabbed her shoulders and sat her on the chair. He got a paper towel from the dispenser. He rinsed it and wiped it to her face. Then he quietly cleaned her hair from the slushie.

Noah's hands were calloused. He was massaging her head. She suddenly felt hot. She involuntarily moaned causing Noah to raise an eyebrow. She blushed and avoided eye contact which made him chuckle.

After a few minutes, Noah was finished cleaning her hair. He got some more paper towels to dry her hair then asked, "Where are your clothes?"

She looked at him. "There's no need for change of clothes. My blouse is completely dry." She said as she stood up from her seat and removed her cardigan, revealing her yellow blouse. "Thanks again for helping me, Noah."

"No problem. I'm your friend, right?" he asked nervously, not sure of her answer.

"Yes, Noah. We're friends." She smiled at him. Both of them were kind of disappointed that they were just friends.

Noah smiled at her. They both stood there smiling at each other until Rachel spoke. "Um, Noah, we'll be late for second period so got to go."

"Oh, right. Second period." He snapped his fingers. He walked towards the door before turning around and saying, "See ya' later!" with a small wave.

Rachel smiled at him and waved back. He got out of the bathroom while she was left there thinking about him.

_Friday_

"Finished!" Noah said, proud to finish the project with Rachel, at the same time disappointed that they only spent five afternoons together making the project. For the last four days, he realized he has feelings for her.

Rachel smiled at him. She was glad the project was finished but it also means that she might spend less time with Noah. She will really miss him, especially now that she knew she has feelings for him. "Would you like to celebrate?" she asked, wanting to spend this remaining time with him.

Noah looked at her. "Sure!" he answered too fast and too excited. Rachel raised one eyebrow at him while smiling. "I mean, I'm okay with that. Celebration is fine. I don't mind celebrating-" he was cut off mid-ramble with the sound of Rachel's giggle. "Why are you giggling?" he asked.

"You know you're cute when you ramble, right?" Rachel asked not realizing what she just said.

Now was Noah's turn to raise an eyebrow while smirking. Rachel felt a blush creeping through her cheeks so she stood up from her seat and walked to the door. She looked back at him and asked, "Are you coming?"

Noah, still smirking, stood up from his seat and walked towards her. He looked at her. "Let's go."

They arrived at the only pizza place in Lima fifteen minutes later. The place was almost empty because most of the students who loiter there were in parties. Noah and Rachel picked the table by the window. The waitress took their orders which were meat pizza for Noah and veggie pizza for Rachel.

"I had such a great time with you at the last four days, Noah." Rachel said, as if she was saying goodbye to him.

"Me too, Rach." He smiled at her.

They got back to her house an hour later from the pizza place. They walked together towards the door. As they stopped at the doorway, Rachel turned around and looked at Noah. "It was a small, wonderful celebration, Noah. I'll see you on Monday with the project."

"It really was because I got you to eat one meat pizza! He exclaimed while Rachel giggled. "Don't forget the project on Monday, okay." He smiled at her then turned to walk away. She watched him go. He was halfway through the front yard when he hesitantly turned around, walked towards her, and kissed her on the lips. To say that she was shocked was an understatement. She recovered from her shock and was about to kiss him back when he quickly pulled away with a mixed look of hurt and disappointment on his face. He walked away to his car quickly so Rachel didn't get the chance to stop him.

_Monday_

Rachel was excited for Monday. It's because she will see Noah whether he likes it or not. He avoided her the whole weekend and ignored all her phone calls and texts. She knew that he got the wrong message last Friday when she didn't kiss him back. She was in shock when he kissed her, not knowing until that moment that Noah might have feelings for her, too.

Before first period, she waited for him at his locker. Five minutes before the bell rang, Noah still didn't show up. She sighed. She'll just meet him at their third period, Chemistry.

Third period came so Rachel expected to see Noah. Ten minutes before the start of Chemistry, he entered the classroom and took the farthest seas from her.

The teacher entered the room asking for their project. She stood up and looked at Noah. He was looking anywhere but her. She sighed. She gave their project to the teacher and took her seat. She would talk to him later at lunch to clear things up.

When the bell rang signaling that it's lunch time, she hurried towards the cafeteria to eat her lunch quickly before finding Noah. After five minutes, she stood up from her seat, cleaned her table, and hurried to the library. Last week when she was spending time with him, she learned many things about him. One of them is that he always spends his lunchtime at the library every Monday where he has a "spot" he always sits at.

Rachel entered the library to see his "spot" empty. She looked around but he wasn't there. She was getting hopeless but she didn't give up. She walked around the book racks and saw him at the third aisle, looking for a book. She walked behind him quietly so he wouldn't sense her presence. When she reached him, she grabbed his elbow then turned him around. He looked at her and he was about to say something when she stood on her tippy toes and kissed him. She can say that he was surprised. Then she heard loud footsteps walking towards them. She pulled back, turned around, and pretended to check the books at the rack across from Noah. She noticed from the corner of her eye that Noah just recovered from the surprise kiss and just noticed the footsteps. Noah turned around to the bookracks and pretended to look at the books, too. They both heard the footsteps coming closer to them until they saw Mr. Schuester, their Spanish teacher, walking by. He nodded at them. When he was out of sight, Noah turned around and walked closer to her. In one swift motion, he turned her around then kissed her passionately. This time she kissed him back immediately. She felt the kiss becoming deeper so she pulled back. Noah looked at her with confusion so she whispered, "We're at the library."

Noah chuckled. "You just realize that now?"

He was about to kiss her again when Rachel repeated, "We're at the library."

Noah looked around. "Fine. But can I come over later?" he asked, not confident about his question.

Rachel smiled at him. "Sure. As long as you bring pizzas from the best pizza place in town."

Noah grinned at her. "Deal."


End file.
